Silly Neighbors

Our neighbors thought it would be funny to put an Iowa State Mascot tattoo on Mason. He actually enjoyed it and called it a band-aid. I thought it was more appropriate to post the picture of him crying. It doesn't matter that he is crying over something unrelated to his tattoo, but it makes me want to cry. The only bird he should be wearing on his face or supporting is the Jayhawk! His tattoo is gone now and Mason started crying asking for another "band-aid".

Interesting Finds

Mason has a warm and kind heart along with a nurturing spirit. We've have tried emphasizing how happy it makes us when he shares and he has taken it to the extreme. He was nice enough to share his pretzel snack with the caterpillar.

Summer Time

If only I would have taken this outside in the sun. It exemplifies summer time. Here at the Chaplin house we mark summer when you eat watermelon on the rind that is bigger than your head!

Ellery 15 Months

Ellery is growing like a weed, finally. We went for our 15 month check up today. Instead of a steady slow curve on the growth chart we have a nice jump up on the curve.
Her Stats:
Height: 31 inches (69%)
Weight: 21 lbs 4 oz (35%)
Head Circumference: 45 cm (25%)
She is still my tiny little peanut. She is making animal noises and pointing to body parts. She attempts to say big words and she even made a sentence the other day of "Bye Daddy" with hand gestures. She loves to look at books and points to objects and says "whats dis". She even recognizes objects now and can point to them on command. I feel bad for her, she plays a lot with boy toys. She likes pushing cars around with Mason, lining the dinosaurs up, and throwing balls. She does like to love on her stuffed animals and is becoming partial to a bunny bear that looks like Mason's Double. She also likes carrying around a green receiving blanket like Mason's. She is cute as can be with a flare for drama. I am not sure if Mason has pushed her or is just getting to close for her liking now, it all ends with the same sounding cry. The cutest thing happened the other day. I was turning my back to Hudson and telling him back and I had a little shadow mimicking me. Ellery was saying back and trying to walk backwards into the dog as well. PRECIOUS!

First Swimming Experience

Our neighbors invited us over for an afternoon swim today.
I just want it to be known she has a smile on her face and wanted to play in the water. It was a different tune once she got in the water, she wasn't thrilled at all and wouldn't calm down enough to ever enjoy it. Mason was his usual slow to warm up to the idea, but then had a great time swimming and playing in the water. Didn't want to get his head or face wet yet, but give him time.

Slug Bug

Mason likes to wear his goggles around the house. We keep forgetting to take them upstairs so he can use them for bath time as well. Anyways, what a proud day it is, Mason called out a slug bug all on his own. It took a blue one for him to say it, but he called it all on his own with no prompting. GO MASON! Watch out Rob, not only do you get beat at slug bug by your wife but it is possible you may be beat by a 2 year old!

I'm a Big Boy

Mason is growing up so fast and right before my eyes. We went to a neighborhood party this weekend and then over to our neighbors for a swim and Mason loves hanging with the big kids. Monkey see and Monkey do. At the pool he followed around the neighbor boys who are 4 and 8 and mimicked what they did. At the party he played with the 7 and 8 year olds and was a little shadow to them. He attempted to play tag and chase after a ball and tackle who ever got it first. He also had to sit at the 7-9 year old table for dinner. It was a nice break, I am usually following him around at parties watching what he does and we were able to sit back and relax and watch from a distance.

CSA

We joined a CSA, Community Supported Agriculture, here in Omaha and had our first vegetable pick up this week. I wanted to start a garden, but we have a bunny problem along with a time commitment problem on my part. I didn't find it worth the hassle this year, but maybe I will hire a bunny hit man so I can plant one next year. I am really excited about the CSA. We have the option to go out to the farm and volunteer if we want but no obligation and they deliver it to our local farmers market every weekend of the next 20 weeks. We won't know what we are getting until the pick up, we are at the mercy of Mother Nature. We got some bok choy, radishes, and lettuce. I had never heard of bok choy, but have found a yummy salad that we have been enjoying with it. We are also getting our eggs fresh every other week. Did you know when you get your eggs from the grocery store they are already 6-8 months old? I am not sure if that is true and plan to look it up. I could be starting a rumor or make you start thinking about the eggs you buy.
Check out the farm aka the Farmily.
http://bryanfamilyfarm.blogspot.com/

Bok Choy Recipe
Subject: Bok Choy Salad
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 white vinegar (I used 1/8 of a cup)
1/3 cup sugar
3 tbs soy sauce
2 bunches bok choy, cleaned and sliced
1 bunch scallions, chopped (I used shallots one time and green onions another)
1/8 cup slivered almonds toasted
1 pkg. Ramen noodles or you can just use 6 oz. Chow Mein noodles

Directions: In a glass jar with a lid, mix together olive oil, white vinegar, soy sauce, & sugar. Close the lid and shake until well mixed.
Combine the bok choy, scallions, almonds and ramen noodles/Chow Mein noodles in a salad bowl. Toss with dressing and serve.

Marina Visits

Marina came down to Omaha for a few days of rest and relaxation. I am not sure if she got any relaxation with the kids around or rest for that matter. I think the rest part was more her doing by staying up late and watching movies. Needless to say the kids were thrilled to have her around and it was nice having an extra pair of hands and eyes. We did drag her out to the zoo with us one day. We explored a new area at the zoo and Mason discovered the petting zoo. I feel sorry for those poor goats get manhandled all day long, but they don't seem to mind. My kids are now officially goat stalkers.

Cake Goals

My new goal is to get a picture of Mason eating cake with all of our friends and family. Marina was eating graduation cake for breakfast and Mason was excited to join in.

Butterflies

We have a butterfly house at the Omaha Zoo that opened this year, but I personally think the butterfly house in Sioux Falls is a bit nicer. It has a lot more butterflies flying around and a bigger walking path. Plus it is always so busy at the Omaha Zoo so it was nice to be able to walk freely around and follow the butterflies. Mason followed the blue ones and Ellery walked around pointing at everything that moved. Marina was a huge help in following the kids with me and keeping them from touching things they shouldn't.

Silly String

Rob and I bought silly string to shoot at the graduates at the family dinner party. Marina graduated from high school and Bryan graduated from college and he fortunate enough to have found a teaching job right in Sioux Falls. We had the kids ready for bed and we were sitting out on the deck and planned it out so that the graduates would walk out and come talk to us and then we would shoot them with our string. Mason was excited as well, although he had no idea what was going to happen he was just excited to be holding his own can. They walked out on the deck and we started to shooting and to our surprise they started shooting back. The kids started screaming from the ruckus but everyone kept on shooting. Everyone is fine but if my kids have an aversion to silly string we will know why.

Graduation

We headed up to South Dakota for Marina's high school graduation. Thank goodness she went to a private school and only had 50+ graduates and not the standard 400+ in public schools. The kids did great and loved clapping when everyone else clapped. Mason kept on asking where Marina was and would get really excited when he found her. Ellery has gotten over her man hating phase. She let Uncle Tom hold and love on her lots along with TJ and Bryan. She still favors the females but is tolerating males more and more.

Coffea

We headed to Sioux Falls for Marina's graduation and also stopped into the newest coffee house in the neighborhood called Coffea. We are special because we know the owners. It is a wonderful space and they have done a great job in decorating and making it feel very warm and cozy. Not to mention the coffee is amazing. Check them out if you have time and they do ship. Coffea

Ellery being held by the owner, Jenna.

Mason watching the roasting process and thrilled to be sitting at the coffee bar.

Rob's brother Tom and his wife Laurie at the front of the shop. I didn't take very many pictures of the shop itself. Also, did you know that coffee beans are red? You are looking at coffee beans in the picture hanging above the counters.

Spring Art

We headed to a plant sale at the botanical gardens and they were also having a spring fair for the kids. We made kites out of plastic bags, hats from paper plates, planted some seeds, and colored some pictures. They also had a person dressed up in vines they called "The Vine". I over heard people talking about "The Vine" but was confused and since I wasn't in the conversation I didn't ask them to clarify for me. We headed down the trail to peek at the miniature trains and we ran into "The Vine" and no other clarification was needed. She didn't speak just put on a performance on her stilts. She made a bridge for the kids to walk under and Mason refused but he did take the opportunity to touch her. It was remarkable to watch her and a very artistic performance.

Zoo in the Afternoon

I took the kids to the zoo in the afternoon. We usually go in the morning, but we were having a rough afternoon and instead of dealing with cranky kids at home I decided to stimulate them at the zoo. It was surprisingly very relaxing and not as busy. We had a good time and the gorillas were more active than usual. We watched them run around in the outside yard and wrestle each other, jump in and out of the water, and hit the glass and take off running again. I bet we watched them for 30 minutes.
I also made some new picture friends. I was taking a picture of Mason and Ellery crawling around on the lions and a young couple offered to take one of all of us. I jumped in the photo and so did her boyfriend. I was nice and reciprocated taking a picture of them, but I should have placed my children in their photo. I like this guy, it is something I would have done!

The Week of Mandi

It was great to be home because it is always nice sleeping in your own bed after being away, but I was also happy to be home because Rob made a family announcement that it was "The Week of Mandi". I got a present everyday with a nice sweet card. What a man! Each present had a card and a nice jingle he wrote to go along with it.
1st Card: "Welcome Home! Please enjoy these birthday tokens, upcoming you will find lots of celebration.
2nd Card: "So it is day #2 of Happy Birthday To You, enjoy the day for I will be thinking I Love You"
3rd Card: "You are so hot! The love of my life. A big Thank you to you for being my wife."
ETC...... I won't bore everyone with all the others and some of them are for my eyes only!
What a man and I was super excited to open my presents. I got big items and small items and even a new vacuum cleaner. If you are going to get a vacuum cleaner for a birthday present this is how to do it. We needed a new one, but it never is that exciting to get something to clean with for your birthday so when you know more is to come and it is accompanied by a sweet card it makes it a fun gift. I was happy with just a cake but realized I liked getting presents as well!

Nature at its best

The miracle of life amazing me. We came home from our trip and found the robin's nest eggs hatched. We had two little birdies right outside our window and we have watched her feed them worms multiple times. Mason loves it and Ellery watches intently as well.

Top 5 Items that Cause

They say you learn something new everyday and today Rob was nice enough to teach me something he learned in residency. Mason has had his finger in his nose a lot lately, so much that he has caused a bit irritation to the area. His right nostril is inflamed and reddened to the point where his mucous is blood tinged. As he picks his nose and shows me what he pulls out he gives me an "uh oh, what happened". I told him his finger happened and to keep it out of his nose. That is when Rob decided to share a bit of his fine education knowledge and asked me what the top 5 causes of bloody noses were from in small children. He held up his right hand and counted his fingers one by one up to five.

Cake Cake and More Cake

It doesn't get much better than being serenaded by the ones you love on your birthday, but I just learned if you go visit someone else on your birthday you get a cake from them and then get another one when you return home. I am going to go visit someone for my birthday every year. Mason was very helpful in blowing out the candles and I was being very generous and gave him the candles so he could lick off the frosting. I was busy admiring my cake and plotting out what piece I wanted with the ultimate frosting to cake ratio. I was a bit too enthralled in my planning because when I snapped back into reality and realized I should be paying some attention to my children I found Mason is not only licking the frosting off the candles, but attempting to eat them as well. Here's what I found: Something is missing and is in someones tummy. He swallowed a lot of it and then started spitting it out once the texture and taste of wax overcame the frosting taste.